What were the wages and fringes for workers in that non-union WV mine?

[Bozita]

I've read all of the articles I've run across and most of the op-eds. I've yet to run across that info.

The TV coverage showed me a town and people who seem to have completely missed the current Bush boom times.

How in the hell could towns in coal mining areas of WV have voted for Bush?

[tularetom]

1. I don't know about the non union mines

but I heard somewhere in the last few days that the average pay for miners (generic term) was about $50k per year and some made up to $80k with "moderate" overtime. From the context it seemed to me that this was the average for all miners union and non, but I could be wrong. In any case these folks are not working for minimum wage. It seems that they are paid well, as indeed they should be for the nature of the work they do.

On edit: It's probably just a matter of time however until the mine owners bring in immigrants to do the same work for half the pay and then these guys who are doing the work now will either have to work for less or they'll be out on their ass. Such is life in *'s Amurca.

[Bozita]

4. I read that UMW members made an average of about 60k plus bennies

But this mine wasn't union.

The folks I saw weren't making anything near that.

[beltanefauve]

6. Non-union

and working bright and early on NEW YEARS'S DAY.

[leftofthedial]

2. stupid, ignorant, bigoted, religiously insane.

there aren't many other explanations. How do people keep forgetting what everybody knows?


I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
Picked up a shovel and I walked to the mine
I hauled Sixteen Tons of number 9 coal
And the straw-boss said, "Well, bless my soul"

You haul Sixteen Tons, whadaya get?
Another older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

Born one morning it was drizzle and rain
Fightin' and Trouble are my middle name
I was raised in a canebrake by an old mama lion
And no high-toned woman make me walk the line

You haul Sixteen Tons, whadaya get?
Another older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

See me comin' better step aside
A lot of men didn't and a lot of men died
I got one fist of iron and the other of steel
And if the right one don't get ya, the left one will

You haul Sixteen Tons, whadaya get?
Another older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

Born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
Picked up a shovel and I walked to the mine
I hauled Sixteen Tons of number 9 coal
And the straw-boss said, "Well, bless my soul"

You haul Sixteen Tons, whadaya get?
Another older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

[roseBudd]

3. I heard on CNN $17-18 an hour (edited to add 12 hr shifts)

[Bozita]

7. Did they mention any benefits?

Health, dental, and vision care?

I don't intend this in any demeaning way, but it didn't appear that dental insurance was common in this town.

[roseBudd]

11. They did not say but if you don't get dental care until you join the work

force it may be too late. I think if you live in coal country $17-18 an hour seems like good money worth risking your life for. The quote was predeath of the miners and was sapecific to that mine as it was in reference to the newest miner, who was trapped.

If it is $50,000 a year it is probaly because of a 60 hour work week.

[babylonsister]

5. Great question that I'll recommend, provided we get an honest

answer!

[Staph]

8. Upshur County voted for Bush . . .

by 67% to 33%. But for the most part, the coal fields (primarily in the southern part of the state) voted for Kerry.

Don't ask me why -- I didn't vote for the dim son.

[rucky]

9. I hope the media follows the civil suit.

there will be one. that's when all the shit's going to come out re: working conditions.

[Sydnie]

10. I beleive that the starting salary for someone like

McCloy was about $30,000 a year. Good money for that area. Housing costs are not that high so you could own your house in 10 years or so, if you don't have too many kids to support.

the votes that blivet** got, I beleive, were because he was going to keep the coal burning plants open by not regulating their emissions. Plants that burn coal still operating means job security.

Remember, these are the same people that elect Byrd time after time. Without these mines (or ones like it) the state could have rolled up the sidewalks years ago.